If MA is a waste of time, then other, more "normal" pastimes like watching soaps/football is a more worthwhile endeavour?????

Where did you read that?

Not from me.

Football and TV both suck. Being a fantasy football geek is no better than a UFC geek; HOWEVER, big difference being that aspiring and training to be a football champ = HUGE sums of cash and bitches and 'da life, whereas, while I'm sure Fedor is comfortable, he works hard for his money and probably doesn't get alotta playtime.

OBVIOUSLY I enjoy and respect MA and MMA, but that doesn't mean I can't mention its many many shortcomings.

I have some Terminator comics. in one of then, the rebels sent back a commando to kill the guy who developed skynet, and the machines sent back a gropu of terminators to stop them. the terminators capture a human, put a plasma gun in his stomach trought surgery and travel back in time. Then, they remove the gun from his stomach, not using surgery at this time.

Why does anybody have to play DND for pyschological reasons? Can't anybody just play it because tabletop games are cheap and OK to play when you drink? It's only roleplaying games, too. Nobody ever says "that guy plays chutes and ladders because of a napoleonic complex" or "obviously, the only reason a guy would play THIS MUCH monopoly would be because he was raised very poor and he's insecure"

I do martial arts because 1) I'm better then average at it 2)Modern man needs to work out so as not to become pathetic and slug-like 3) I don't like just running on treadmills and such - it makes me imagine gerbils and 4) I like competing in sports. It is fun to travel and compete and see shower rooms, hotel bars, and sad desperate women all over the midwest. At a distant 5th is the notion there may be any practicality in it and a distant 6th behind that is the notion of any career potential

As far as career potential goes, I think the depth of field vs number of pro jobs kind of offsets the higher pay for pros. Modern MMA is still a growing sport and a talented person can still be one of its pioneers - that's the tradeoff for the lower pay and dimmer spotlight.